Rachel Fisher

Absolutely PHENOMENAL

Revisado: 04-10-24

These two narrators were excellent. This book was amazing on its own, one of the best I’ve read this year, but the narrators added SO much.

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Fantastic

Revisado: 10-05-23

Many years ago, there was a TV show that everyone remembers. A show without record of its existence, no recordings or pictures. But everyone remembers Mister Magic. Except for Val…which is extra odd when she finds out that she used to be on it.

I went into this book mostly blind, picking it up because of Bookstagram recommendations and the fact that I have loved Kiersten White’s other books. Add the concept of a creepy forgotten kids TV show and I was totally hooked before I even picked it up.

This book was absolutely incredible. I was absolutely taken in by the creepy atmosphere, the sense of unknown, and the atmospheric horror lingering around every turned page. Hidden inside this book was a story of religious abuse that I was not expecting-which turns out was exactly what the author intended, and 100% nailed. This undertone hit me in the face and wow was it horrific and cathartic at the same time. I needed this read. You might too.

This was an amazing read for spooky season and a beautiful twisted perspective on children, parenting, love, and freedom. This was a hit for sure.

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Scary as actual hell

Revisado: 01-24-23

When single mom Louise Joyner's parents both die in a freak car accident, she finds herself leaving her life in San Francisco and heading back to her childhood town to get their affairs in order. This involves dealing with her estranged brother, Mark, and the chaotic memories of her parents and the home where she grew up. The home full of her mother's topsy-turvy art projects, a massive collection of puppets and dolls...and where one little puppet named Pupkin is waiting, here to play all day all day all day all day...

I went into this book mostly blind and I am so glad that I did. There was nothing that could have prepared me for this book and the spine-chilling creeps in this book. I thought I was walking into one of Hendrix's haunted creepfests, which I was...times about three hundred. This book legit gave me nightmares, kept me up more than once at night-and yet also made me get very emotional and filled my heart with warmth at various spots too. To scare the pants off someone and yet make them have a genuine emotional reaction to the song Rainbow Connection on kazoo? That's skill, and Grady Hendrix has skill.

This is my first five star read of 2023 and man oh man is it deserved. If you're in the mood for a scary ride wrapped in a tale about family issues, parenthood, and complicated relationships? You'll love this.

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Excellent thriller!

Revisado: 10-31-22

The Sun Down Motel sits on the side of Rt. 6. A place where drifters, runaways, private investigators, sex workers, and door to door traveling salesmen all find their rest for $20 a night. No computers or electronics work here. The lights flicker. The doors open and close. There’s always a vacancy.

Thirty five years ago, Viv hopped out of a trucker’s cab, landed at the Sun Down, and took a job as a night clerk. Then she disappeared. And she wasn’t the first.

Now her niece, grieving the loss of her mother, has arrived at this same motel working the same late night position. Carley has a mission-find out what happened to her Aunt Viv…except no one seems to want to talk to her. And then she uncovers the secret: her Aunt Viv was also looking into the disappearances of those other girls before she vanished herself.

And the hotel has more guests than are registered in the log book.

This was a fabulous thriller to listen to on Halloween weekend. This was genuinely engaging and kept me interested-this could have very easily dipped into cliches and boring haunted hotel true crime blah blah blah we’ve heard a hundred times.

Nope.

This was super good and fresh and I’m just…officially a new Simone St. James fan.

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Exceptional

Revisado: 09-13-22

t’s Halloween night. Jen Brotherhood has just placed the carved pumpkin in her window when she sees her lovely, funny, wonderful son Todd walking home. And then she sees him stab and kill a stranger in the street.

The horror of the night is unspeakable, leaving her 18yo son in jail while she and her husband Kelly stagger home to figure out what to do…except when Jen wakes up, Todd is home and oblivious. And it’s October 30th. And then it’s October 29th…28th…

This wild story combines thriller and science fiction in the most exceptional entertaining heart stopping way that left me absolutely speechless at times and shouting outloud in shock at others. This book is the story of how far a mother will go to save her son, and the power of memory and time. This was OUTSTANDING and should absolutely be your next read. Immediately.

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Disturbing and exceptional

Revisado: 08-26-22

HUGE TRIGGER WARNING for this book: I won’t list them all here, but massive TWs for SA/BDSM used as a cover for abuse, misogyny, violence…proceed into this book carefully if those things are complicated for you).

Shay lives the perfect modern housewife life, married to a wealthy handsome perfect man living in the suburbs, listening to true crime podcasts. Her favorite guilty pleasure is The Transgression, hosted by her long-estranged friend Jamie. But one episode pulls her in…when he says the name of her college best friend and roommate Laurel and tells his audience about her death. And then he mentions Shay, and her blood runs cold.

Her mind flies back to college. The man in the suit, the secret, the…and now it’s all happening again. When Shay decides to fly to New York to help Jamie investigate, the past flies back in her face in the form of an insidious cult, filled with a mockery of BDSM and deep misogynistic abuse. But what’s waiting behind the dark doors of this society is beyond anything Shay ever imagined…or ever wanted to relive.

This book blew my fucking mind. Profoundly dark and twisted, absolutely not for everyone (PLEASE google the full list of TWs before picking it up yourself), and sensationally written. This was a profound look into the dark underbelly of misogynistic terror, abuse, sexual dominance and submission twisted into backward knots and used as a tactic to manipulate and destroy…and what happens when a victim turns into a survivor and screams NO. MORE.

There were parts that left me literally breathless in horror and shock. This was an INCREDIBLE book. This is the best book I’ve read in 2022. Hands down.

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Sensational academic thriller

Revisado: 07-21-22

Hannah wasn’t supposed to have a roommate at Oxford’s Pellum College. But fate brought her and posh, rich, stunning April Clark-Clivedon together—and then they became best friends. And then someone murdered April, twisting the lives of Hannah and their friend group upside down.

Ten years later, Hannah has her life together it seems. She has a lovely job at a bookshop, she’s married to her college crouch Will, and they’re expecting a baby. But the facts surrounding April’s death have never stopped bothering Hannah, haunting her dreams and her waking hours both. But when the convicted murderer dies in prison, Hannah’s mind goes electric. What if…what if she was wrong? What if John Neville didn’t kill April? What if…what if…what if it was someone closer to them all than she ever could have thought possible?

This was my first Ruth Ware book and I am newly OBSESSED. This was a sensational book, a slow agonizing burn with an ending that effectively shocked me and fully broke my heart. This was an academic thriller that was written in two perspectives: Before and After. It goes back and forth, an effective and well done method of storytelling. I loved the variety of characters, loved their voices and their own perspectives. I’ve heard some people say Hannah’s voice was flat, but I listened to the audiobook and it was actually super effective and felt perfect for the tone of the story itself.

All in all, one fantastic thriller.

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Twisty twisty twisty!

Revisado: 07-13-22

Former actress Casey Fletcher has had enough bad press to last a lifetime. After the sudden death of her husband last year, the bottle became her best friend, leading to rehab and now banishment by her “momager” to the family lake house to attempt to stay out of the public eye and sober up. Fat chance. Armed with one of many bottles of bourbon in one hand and her late husband’s birding binoculars in the other, Casey’s plan is to drink herself silly and live vicariously through the voyeurised lives of her rich and famous neighbors on various sides of the lake.

But the more she watches Tom and Katherine, her tech mogel married supermodel neighbors, she starts to wonder if things might be a little less glamourous than they first appear. And when she saves Katherine from drowning and they strike up a friendship, the uneasiness deepens. Is Casey imaging things brought on by alcoholic paranoia? Or is there more than meets the eye happening in the house across the lake?

This. BOOK. I need an ice pack for all the twists that I absolutely DID NOT see coming. This book was a bucking bronco of a ride in the best way possible. This was a fabulous twist on the vouyer-spying-on-the-neighbors troupe, filled with witty dialogue and fresh takes on overdone ideas.

This was FABULOUS, twisty, and dark. You need to read this one.

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Magical Sapphic Love Story

Revisado: 06-08-22

Molly had no friends in high school except her mom. And now she’s at college, with the tweets of her forever crush guiding her toward a new magical future. A future of friends, college memories, and finally kissing Chloe.

Alex sees college as freedom. Alcoholic mom, absent father, bartending and scraping every penny until her mom demanded it for her next drink…and finally ready to prove to her on again off again girlfriend Natalie that is ready to mature and settle things down.

They’re not friends. But Molly is a mess and Alex has the street smarts and just maybe, the five step program to getting the girl. Or maybe they’ll realize what they’re supposed to want isn’t what they want after all. Maybe they’ll realize it’s each other they want instead.

This book was a sapphic magical journey, a coming of age story told in a way that really connected with me. It was perfectly worded, engaging, emotional and gripping. I giggled and I cried, sitting at my desk in my office, not even bothering to wipe away the tears. It was that good.

This is the perfect queer romance we’ve needed for a long time.

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Dark magic masterpiece

Revisado: 05-19-22

This book. Where do I even begin?

“No maids. No funny talking. No fainting flowers.” Chinese American Luli Wei has strict criteria for the roles she will take. She knows the roles for a girl like her are limited but she doesn’t care. She’d rather play a monster than a maid. Luli is a rising starlet in Old Hollywood, a place where monsters are real and not in a metaphorical sense. There’s a dark underbelly to the glamor here, blood magic and old gods and sacrifices made to devils.

This book was a revelation. A glittering dark fantasy story with just the right blend of real world glitz and fantastic horror. This book blurred the lines between reality and fiction in the best possible way. This was a magical queer racially charged horrific fairytale…

Naudus’s narration powerfully brings this story to life, the richness of the story playing against the innocence and power of Wei’s experiences.

This was yet another Nghi Vo masterpiece.

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